The novel works on so many levels-science fiction, love story, societal commentary. I can't speak for Michel's intentions, but we read it as a sort of tribute to how technology can keep us connected to those far away from us. It allows Peter to maintain his humanity, to remind him of the love he has at home.
So, actually, technology is extremely important in this case. Peter and Bea's correspondence is so crucial to Peter's experience on Oasis-without it, he might have totally lost himself. Do you think this was Michel's commentary on our own increasingly tech-centered communications in our own lives? Because of the distance, their relationship is reduced to computer text exchanges. One essential aspect of The Book of Strange New Things is the love story between Peter and Bea. The reward for any editor working with him is to be able to live in those worlds alongside him. Michel is a thoughtful and serious writer, who wholly inhabits the worlds he creates-his imagination is boundless. What are the rewards and challenges of working with him? From the strange and thrilling Under the Skin to the sweeping bravado of The Crimson Petal and the White to haunting short stories and provocative essays, he's an innovative, curious and deeply creative writer.Įach book Faber writes is so different than the last. He's confident, methodical and utterly fearless. We would say you're in for a treat! He's a tremendously gifted writer. If you were trying to sell Michel Faber to a reader who has never read him before, what you say? It's such an ambitious premise-a pastor travels to another planet, but tries to stay connected to his wife on Earth-but he handles it so subtly, and with great emotion. We started reading The Book of Strange New Things with that in mind and we weren't disappointed.
Because of that book, his reputation as an inventive and fluid storyteller who has a unique command of language preceded him. I was aware of him, of course, from the phenomenal success of The Crimson Petal and the White. The Book of Strange New Things is the first book that we've worked on with Michel. How long have you been working with Michel Faber as an editor? What was it about him and his writing that piqued your interest? Shelf Awareness interviewed Hogarth/Crown senior editor Zachary Wagman about The Book of Strange New Things and his experience of working with Faber. It tells the story of Peter, a missionary to the planet Oasis, and his wife, Bea, back on Earth as the planet experiences catastrophic events. The Book of Strange New Things is Faber's most ambitious novel yet. He has tackled Victorian England in The Crimson Petal and the White, followed an extraterrestrial with bad intentions through Scotland in Under The Skin and retold the Prometheus myth in The Fire Gospel. Michel Faber has proven to be an electic and visionary writer. Zachary Wagman on Michel Faber: A Boundless Imagination
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